Apple Is Top U.S. Smartphone Maker To Start 2013 As Android Loses Marketshare To iOS

In the competition between iOS and Android, Google’s Android operating system has been growing in the U.S. much faster than iOS until now. For the first time, Android actually lost some of its U.S. marketshare in 2013 while iOS gained a few points.

comScore just released its report on the U.S. smartphone market and had some very encouraging news for Apple. While most other manufacturers are slumping, Apple is increasing its lead on Samsung, HTC, Motorola and LG in the U.S.

The top smartphone OEMs as of January 2013 are Apple, Samsung, HTC, Motorola and LG, in that order. While Apple improved its share of the U.S. smartphone market from 34.3% to 37.8%, HTC and Motorola both lost marketshare. LG gained a modest 0.3% of marketshare likely in part to the Nexus 4.

Even though Samsung gained 1.9 points more of the U.S. smartphone market, it wasn’t enough to keep Android’s numbers up. Google’s Android platform still commands 52.3% of the U.S. smartphone platforms, but it dropped from the 53.6% marketshare it had last year. iOS jumped up to 37.8% from 34.3% so it looks like Apple will continue to gain on Android this quarter, thanks to the iPhone 5.